


a chance (to do good)

by silversfiction



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Deathly Hallows AU, Good Draco Malfoy, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, POV Alternating, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-17 23:22:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28733415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silversfiction/pseuds/silversfiction
Summary: After Harry, Ron and Hermione get captured and taken to Malfoy manor, Draco helps them in their escape and suffers the consequences. But then, he gets help from someone who he didn’t expect to come back for him, and he is offered the chance to choose a side in the fight against Voldemort.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Comments: 5
Kudos: 118





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My first Harry Potter fanfiction, so constructive criticism is appreciated. The pov will switch between draco and harry with every chapter and updates will (probably) be every weekend. If you think that I should add more warnings/tags please just leave a comment or drop by on by tumblr (@silversfiction)

When Bellatrix came back from the gate, she brought three people with her. She claimed that they had been caught I the woods, putting up a fight to get away. She also claimed that one of them is Harry Potter.

As soon as Draco stepped into he room, he knew that the crazy woman had been right, it is Harry Potter. Harry Potter with a swollen face, staring up at him out of one eye, missing his glasses. But it was him, without a doubt. It couldn’t be anyone else, even if he couldn’t see the scar on his forehead.  
Bellatrix dragged him over to where Draco was standing, throwing him onto the ground. “Is it him?“

And that was when he understood. They wouldn’t call for the Dark Lord as long as they aren’t sure that it is really the boy who lived. And given that Draco had been going to school with him, he would be the best to identify him, right?

He sank down until he was eye to eye with him, looking intently at his face. He saw fear in Harry’s eyes and Draco thought back to when they were fighting, back in Hogwarts. Always throwing snide comments at each others heads, battling to be better at Quidditch than the other, always competing. Never before had Draco seen fear in Harry Potter's eyes. Never had he seen that silent plea for help. He looked into Harry’s eyes, trying to tell him that he wouldn’t call him out as Harry Potter. He couldn’t. What good would it be anyways? Even though Voldemort finding out that he lied would mean his death. He had been sure that he would be killed, after not killing Dumbledore. 

Even after everything that happened, even after becoming a Deatheater, Draco still had that bit of hope. Hope that the Dark Lord would loose. And if that happened, he wanted to be able to actually have a life after the war. Should Voldemort win, he would be as good as dead anyways.

“It’s not him.“, he said, voice as emotionless as ever. He stood up, not looking at him again, and went over to his mother. Draco watched while they led Harry and Weasley away, but Bellatrix kept Hermione upstairs. What was she planning to do? 

Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for Draco to find out what Bellatrix wanted to do, and Draco looked away. He couldn’t help her, he couldn’t do anything. When the screams started, Draco turned away and left the room. Maybe his mother had told him to stay, maybe not, he was trying to tune out all sound, to be able to ignore the screams, and couldn’t properly hear her.  
He thought back to when he was lying on the bathroom floor in Hogwarts, blood flowing out of his body and onto the ground. It was Harry who had used that curse he had never heard before on him, and for a moment, Draco had actually thought that it would end there for him. And for a short moment, he had wished for it to end. He wished for it because then he wouldn’t have to deal with being a Deatheater, with Voldemort and his mission, with nothing. Later on, he had questioned himself for thinking like that, but it still was there, locked away in the far back of his consciousness. 

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Draco pulled his wand out and tapped it on the wall he had stopped at. A door opened and he took a step forward, vanishing into the secret passageways that were twisting themselves through the walls of the manor. He didn’t light the way, he knew where he had to take turns. After all, he had walked this way a lot in the past weeks, smuggling food into the basement. 

He wasn’t sure why he had started doing it, but he had noticed that the food that Wormtail was bringing down there couldn’t possibly be enough for one person, least of all for nearly three. He didn’t have food with him this time, but Harry and his friends arriving changed a few things. Harry’s face had possibly been hit by a spell that would wear off soon and even if not, they would find out about the identity of their guest soon enough, judging by the muffled screams he could still hear from within the walls of the old house. 

He arrived at another door after taking multiple turns and again tapped at it with his wand. It opened to the outside and Draco stepped out into the cold and wet basement. Immediately he was crowded by Harry and Weasley, but upon nearer inspection, it was actually Weasley crowding him, with Harry trying to hold the redhead back. He huffed, trying to sound as bored as possible. “What’s your problem, Weasley?“

He didn’t get an answer, not that he had expected one, but he heard Luna telling them to take a step back. To his surprise, they actually did, and Draco was able to take a look at the room. Wormtail wasn’t standing directly in front of the door, to his relief, but he couldn’t be far. Harry still had a hand on Weasley’s shoulder and Luna was standing a few steps behind them. Ollivander was sitting on the ground to her right and the goblin was nowhere to be seen. Draco was actually glad about that, he didn’t like the creature.

“Did you bring food again?“, asked Luna. He couldn’t tell if she was asking because of the food or because she wanted to ease the tension in the room. He shook his head. “Sorry, I’m here to get you out.“

A tentative smile spread on her face. “What’s the plan?“  
Well, that was actually the problem, he did not have a plan. Before he could think about an answer, another scream echoed through the room and Weasley ripped himself out of Harry’s grip. He grabbed Draco and slammed him up against the wall. “What are they doing to her?“  
Draco really wanted to answer with sarcasm, rile the other up even more, but another scream echoed all around them and he decided against it. If it was one of his friends up there, he would probably react the same way, looking to blame someone else. But even with that in mind, he couldn’t bring himself to actually say it. That Bellatrix was using the cruciatus curse to get answers out of her. He didn’t want to think about the pain that the curse could inflict.  
Looking back at the redhead, who was still waiting for an answer, seeing the desperation on his face, he made himself answer. “What do you think?“ It wasn’t what he had actually wanted to say, but he was sure that it was the answer they had expected. 

A new voice spoke up before Weasley could punsh him in the face. “Harry Potter?“  
Draco couldn’t see who the voice belonged to, but Weasley let him go and Harry walked over to the source of the voice. Draco still couldn’t see them, but when they continued to speak, he recognised the voice. “Dobby?“ The house-elf stopped talking as soon as he heard his voice and looked over to him. He had expected to see fear in these eyes, but instead all he found was sadness. “Mr. Malfoy, Dobby thought you would be at Hogwarts. Dobby is here to help Harry Potter and his friends.“ The way he said it, it sounded like he expected Draco to try and stop him. He shook his head. “Go ahead.“

The house-elf actually smiled at that.“Dobby thanks Mr. Malfoy for helping Dobby and his friends.“ He saw out of the corner of his eye how Ron snickered at that, but he chose not to react to it. 

They quickly figured out a plan, not that Draco actively took part in that discussion. Not until Dobby turned to him and asked if he wanted to come with them. He took a step back in shock and just shook his head. “I can’t leave, they would know I had something to do with this.“ Dobby nodded and grabbed Luna, Ollivander and the goblin, but he didn’t seem too happy about what was going to follow. Harry recounted the plan. “Dobby, you will apparate them like we planned, then you come back and get us from upstairs. While you’re away, Malfoy will get us out of the basement and go back to them, then he will pretend to try and stop me from getting the wands, got it?“

Everyone nodded and Dobby disapparated with the others.  
Draco walked over to the door and Harry called up to Wormtail, like they had planned. The man came downstairs to check what was going on and as soon as he took the last step, Draco cast a Petrifico Totalus on him. He fell to the ground and Draco quickly cast a spell to open the door. It swung open and Harry and Weasley took the unmoving body inside, then they stepped out of the cell and closed the door behind them. Draco locked it and went back to the secret passageway, but not without hissing at the others that they had to wait for a few minutes before making their way upstairs. He got a nod from both of them as an answer and Draco turned around, stepping into the dark tunnel again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here’s the next chapter, hope you like it. This time we continue with Harry’s perspective...

They stood at the door leading into the basement, barely daring to breathe while waiting for the time to pass. Harry couldn’t hear any sounds from Wormtail yet, and he hadn’t moved since they had thrown him into the cell, so he still seemed to be out cold for now. 

They had promised Malfoy to wait for at least ten minutes before they went upstairs, so they wouldn’t raise any suspicion against him. Ron had been against it at first, but even he had to admit that it would be saver to keep Malfoy’s involvement out of it. Harry still couldn’t quite believe that he had helped them. It didn’t make any sense. Luna confirmed to them that Malfoy had actually brought food down every day or two, because the amount that they had gotten never would have been enough to sustain two persons and a goblin. But it seemed so out of character to Harry. Hadn’t Malfoy been against them the whole time? And did he really switch sides or is he just pretending?  
He couldn’t really believe anything of it yet, even though, deep down, he wanted to believe it. That he is really on their side and helping them because it’s the right thing. But Harry couldn’t be sure of it. 

He looked over to Ron when another scream echoed through the halls of the manor and they held eye contact for a moment, silently communicating. Ron’s eyes had a desperate look in them and Harry knew instantly that his best friend wanted to run up the stairs right now and help Hermione. He grabbed Ron’s arm, holding him before he could take off.  
“Stay, we still have to wait.“, he hissed at him. Ron just glared back.   
„Are you serious, Harry?“ He ripped his arm out of Harry’s grip and they continued to glare at each other. 

A groan sounded from behind them and both of them turned around to see Wormtail slowly turning over on the floor. Harry and Ron both ran up the stairs without any hesitation, it would be too late to do anything as soon as the man really woke up and was able to warn the other Deatheaters.   
The narrow stairs weren’t long and the hallway it led them into was empty. The guys that had picked them up in the forest weren’t there anymore and it had been a few minutes since they had last heard Hermione’s screams. 

Harry looked back to Ron and his friend nodded. Both of them had come to the same conclusion. They couldn’t wait any longer, no matter what Malfoy had told them.  
They crept down the hallway, anxiously looking around the whole time and Harry almost expected to run into someone on the way. Where did everyone go? Hopefully not into the room where they kept Hermione, they wouldn’t have a chance without their wands. 

They arrived at the doorway, the heavy wood doors only slightly opened. Their were voices drifting over to them from inside, but they were to quiet to fully reach the doors. Harry couldn’t understand them. And if Malfoy had told them about the escape plan they wouldn’t have a chance. 

Harry pressed himself as close to the door as he dared and peeked inside. He couldn’t see much, only part of a stone wall and the left arm of Lucius Malfoy, gripping onto his cane. He couldn’t see Malfoy or Bellatrix, but he couldn’t hear the crazy woman’s laughter either, which may be a good sign. Just as he wanted to turn back to Ron again, a reflection on something silver caught his attention.   
It was the sword of Gryffindor, lying on the ground near the door. Harry turned around to Ron after all and pointed at the sword near the door. His friend nodded, immediately understanding Harry plan. 

At Harry’s command they both barged through the door, Ron snatching the sword up from the ground and holding it out in front of him. Harry stayed slightly behind him so Ron could try to block any spells thrown their way. Nothing happened. Everyone in the room just stared at them in shock. And Bellatrix wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Harry couldn’t quite believe their luck, especially that Bellatrix had apparently left the room. They had to move fast now before she came back. Or before one of the Malfoy’s got out of their state of shock. 

Without really thinking about it he sprinted forward, right at Malfoy. Malfoy’s parents still didn’t really react to it, but it had to look realistic so Harry just grabbed Malfoy and threw him onto the ground. As soon as Malfoy had collided with the stone floor Harry gripped onto the wands and tried to rip them out of Malfoy’s hands. He resisted and Harry gripped on tighter, glaring at the boy lying underneath him. Malfoy glared right back and Harry got the bad suspicion that this was Malfoy’s plan all along. 

This could all be a plot to reveal to the others that he is really Harry Potter and then they would somehow notify Voldemort to come and kill him. He couldn’t let that happen. But at the same time it didn’t really make sense for Malfoy to help them and then not let them escape. Maybe he only wanted Luna to escape and keep him and the others here. Harry’s thoughts kept going in circles, coming to the same conclusion every time. That Malfoy had betrayed them, that it had never been his intention to actually let them escape. 

Then the grip on the wands loosened and suddenly Harry was thrown off, crashing into the ground without anyone underneath him to soften the fall. He got up as fast as he could, still a bit confused about what had happened, but now he had the wands in his hands. Turning around he could only see chaos. Lucius Malfoy was still frozen to the spot, but Bellatrix had come back while he had struggled with Draco. Somehow Ron had managed to get Hermione off the ground and over to the balustrade. Now he was blocking the spells Bellatrix was throwing at him with the sword. The witch was laughing manically but she hadn’t noticed that Harry had gotten up yet. 

He ran over to Ron as fast as he could while not getting hit by any curses. Bellatrix had seen him by now but she hadn’t managed to hit him yet. He pulled one of the wands in his hand at random and shot an Expeliarmus her way.  
Bellatrix’ wand flew through the air and Harry just so managed to catch it. At the same moment he arrived next to Ron and Harry noticed that Dobby was already there too. He hadn’t seen him before as Ron had shielded him too. 

Without hesitation Harry gripped onto Ron and Dobby and the elf disapparated with them. But just before they disappeared Harry looked back at Bellatrix again and he saw a dagger in the air, flying at them at an impressive speed. But he couldn’t do anything. The next moment everything warped around him and then his knees crashed into wet sand. 

He stayed there for a moment, keeping a tight grip on the wands in his hands. He looked down at the one he had used to disarm Bellatrix. It had listened to him perfectly as if it was his, but that wasn’t possible because his got destroyed. Looking at the wand didn’t help him though, because he wasn’t able to recognise it. It seemed slightly familiar though.

He ripped his gaze off the wand and looked around. They had landed on the wet sand near a beach, a house in the distance. Harry could see Ron and Hermione to his left, also sitting on the ground. Hermione was gripping onto Ron, her head buried in his shoulder. When Harry looked to the right, he could see Dobby. The house elf was standing in the sand and looked into the distance, a melancholy look on his face. But he seemed alright, at least as far as Harry could tell without his glasses. 

At the thought of them he dropped the wands onto the ground and fished for his glasses, still somewhere in the pockets of his jacket. He put them back on as soon as he managed to find them.  
Harry thought back to what had happened in the manor. Maybe it would have been better if they had taken Malfoy with them. He had said he would be alright, but what if they found out it was him. And the dagger that Bellatrix had thrown. The dagger! 

As soon as he remembered it, Harry leapt to his feet and sprinted over to Dobby, grabbing the elf by his small shoulders. He turned him around, looking for injuries, for blood, anything to indicate that the dagger had hit him. He found nothing. When he was sure that he hadn’t missed anything, he looked up and into Dobby’s big eyes. Dobby gave him a small smile.  
“Harry Potter does not have to worry about Dobby. Mr. Malfoy stopped the dagger from reaching Dobby.“

Malfoy? Harry sank back and landed on the sand, the residing water soaking his clothes. He couldn’t believe that he had doubted Malfoy’s intentions. Sure, he has the Dark Mark, and he was always antagonising Harry and his friends in school, but helping out Luna and making a plan with them, that had seemed genuine. And he didn’t kill Dumbledore. He was supposed to kill Dumbledore, but he didn’t. Now Harry was the one staring into the distance, trying to keep track of his chaotic thoughts. 

A cold hand landed on his shoulder and Harry jumped, disoriented for a moment before realising that it was Hermiones. “Let’s get inside, Harry.“, she said, her voice nothing more than a whisper. He nodded and pushed himself up, taking the wands from where he had dropped them before following them to the house. Dobby stayed at his side the whole time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to leave a comment or drop by on my tumblr @silversfiction!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is from Draco's perspective again. there's not much happening plot-wise but I still felt like it needed to be done. 
> 
> warnings are at the end of the chapter!

Quiet steps were echoing through the otherwise silent manor. There were voices, silent and fleeting. Barely there and gone again. Like echoes in the wind. There was the hiss of a snake, near to his ear, but even that faded into nothing only a moment later. The voices subsided and the footsteps he had heard where fading as well. Slowly, he became aware of the cold stone floor pressing into his side and a shiver ran down his spine, chilling him to the bones. There were no footsteps anymore. No voices. Everything was eerily silent. 

When Draco opened his eyes, the bright rays of sunlight that got inside trough the dirty windows burned his eyes and that was all it took for him to get catapulted back into reality once again. He could feel every little ache in his body. His throbbing forearm, the cuts littered all over his arms and upper body, the tremors still cursing through his body from time to time.   
He was also acutely aware of his surroundings again. The hard floor he was lying on, the silence all around him, the rays of sun that seemed too bright and not bright enough at the same time. He could smell the blood. Its metallic stench.

He closed his eyes again, still blinded by the sun, and tried to block it all out. To escape from this place, or maybe to just disappear completely. He couldn’t believe that they had let him live. They had no reason to. Maybe his parents had something to do with it. Or they were just waiting for him to die of thirst.   
He didn’t feel like moving. Draco let out a huff and then he wished that he didn’t because it hurt in his ribcage when one of his broken ribs moved painfully. He started to wonder why they didn’t just kill him. He was no use for them now, right? He had helped Harry Potter and his friends escape. He aided the prisoners all this time and helped them to get out of here. 

After a while, he didn’t know how long, Draco opened his eyes again and looked down at his left arm. The sleeve was torn open up to the elbow and the bloody remnants of skin seemed to glare back at him. The whole arm was covered in blood at this point and Draco wished that she had cut a bit deeper. Deep enough for it to just bleed out and leave him in peace. But she didn’t.

Bellatrix had been very precise in her work with the dagger. The dagger that was meant for Harry, or for Dobby perhaps. Not for him, but that was his punishment. 

He tried focusing on his arm again and this time he managed to decipher the word hidden underneath the blood, carved into his skin. Traitor.   
It was uneven, some cuts deeper than others, and he was sure that it would scar. At least the Dark Mark would be partly obscured and hidden from sight by the scars on top of it. Not that it made a difference, no one would see it anyways. Maybe the unlucky person that found his dead body in a few weeks, when someone from the Ministry was send to check if anyone is still hiding in the Malfoy’s house. Not that he would be hiding at that point. Not anymore. What point would hiding have, it’s too late for him anyways. 

A noise from behind him startled Draco out of his spiralling thoughts. He didn’t try to turn around and see who or what it was. He didn’t care. Maybe they had decided to sent his crazy aunt to kill him after all. 

A touch to his shoulder made him jump and he immediately regretted it, when all the different injuries all over his body send out flares of pain again. But he didn’t turn around, he couldn’t muster the energy to even turn his head and look at the person that came to end him. He closed his eyes and expected to hear an Avada Kedavra but instead there where light footsteps on the floor.   
A hand touched his cheek and this time he just so managed not to flinch. He braced himself for the pain but nothing happened. When Draco opened his eyes this time, the sun wasn’t blinding him anymore because the small figure standing in front of him was blocking the light’s path. 

He squinted up at it and was greeted by big green eyes and pointy ears that were hanging down at the tips. He immediately recognised the being in front of him. “Dobby?“, he whispered, his voice hoarse from screaming. Draco couldn’t believe that this was really happening. Maybe it was just a dream after all. A very vivid dream. 

The elf nodded at hearing his name and lifted the hand off his cheek. “Dobby came here to bring Draco Malfoy back to Hogwarts.“ The elf’s voice was enthusiastic but he sounded sad at the same time. Why would he be sad? But then the words properly registered in Draco’s head and the bad suspicion of something having happened at Hogwarts crept up on him.   
He made himself focus properly on the elf and saw the small and deliberate smile on his face. It looked so sad that he couldn’t stand looking at it. 

“Did something happen at Hogwarts?”, he asked. He didn’t move to get up from the ground, just looking up to the elf instead.

Dobby shook his head. “Nothing happened at Hogwarts, but it will soon. Dobby feared that something bad happened to Draco Malfoy so he came back to check. Dobby wants to get Draco Malfoy some help in Hogwarts.” 

Draco lowered his eyes again, staring at his bloody arm again. He couldn’t go to Hogwarts, the Deatheaters would surely attack soon. And he wouldn’t be of any help, he could barely move. He was better off dead anyways so Dobby could just leave him here, lying on the floor, and pretend he never found him in the first place. 

Before Draco could make up his mind and tell the elf that he should leave him here, he felt a small hand touching his shoulder again.   
“What are you doing?”, he asked in a small whisper.

The elf gripped his shoulder a bit tighter and answered with a strong determination in his voice. “Dobby will bring you back to Hogwarts.”

Just as Draco wanted to complain, the world warped around him and his vision went black.   
—————  
There was a pounding in his head and muffled voices floated around him, but he couldn’t grasp the meaning of the words. He struggled to regain his memories and orientate himself. How did he get here? He didn’t even know where he was for Merlin’s sake! 

It took Draco a lot of strength and determination to open his eyes, and when he finally did, he found that he was staring at a ceiling. It was high above him and made of stone. It also seemed vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t place it. Where had he seen it before? 

The voices around him where still muffled, fading in and out and Draco just lacked the energy to listen to the conversations around him. He was just so tired. He stayed on the soft and scratchy thing underneath his back, staring up at the ceiling. It reminded him of Hogwarts, in a way. Hogwarts is full of high ceilings and floating candles. Floating candles?

The thought hit him like a train at full speed and he tried to lift his head to look around. After failing to do that, he stayed where he was, turning his head to the side. He was at Hogwarts. Of course. Dobby had told him that he would bring him here, but he hadn’t really believed it. Not until now.   
Looking to the side, Draco could see people running around, some of them were limping and he started to register the muffled screams out of the mass of sounds around him. The stench of blood hit his nose and he closed his eyes, trying to block it out as best as he could. 

A hand touched his shoulder then and he jumped, ripping his eyes open and suddenly possessing the strength to lift his upper body from the ground. He couldn’t see his attacker clearly and nearly collided with them on his way up. 

“Hey, Mr. Malfoy. It’s just me, Madam Pomfrey, okay? Please lie down again.”

Draco blinked a few times, stunned by the sound of gentle voice. When he finally managed to bring the world around him into focus, he saw that she had been telling the truth. It was Madam Pomfrey. With a heavy sigh he let himself sink down again, but his eyes didn’t leave the woman in front of him. She smiled, and it was a gentle smile. One that was meant to make you feel better, but he saw the strained edges around it. This was just the smile of a woman who was thrying her best to take care of all the injured around her.

Suddenly he was acutely aware of his injuries again and of the warm hand that still rested on his shoulder. He swallowed the bile that was rising up in his throat and tried to control his breathing. 

The healer in front of him sighed. “I’m not going to hurt you. Dobby brought you here about an hour ago, but I had to tend to some others at the time and you were unconscious anyways.”, her voice was gentle and calm. Nothing like the storm of emotions that was raging inside Draco’s chest, constricting his breath. “I’m going to bandage your arm now, it stopped bleeding, but I still need to clean and bandage it to keep dirt from entering it. The cuts seem to be from a cursed blade so I won’t be able to heal it.”

She paused for a moment, wand already in hand. She didn’t move. Draco realised that she was waiting for his permission, and he nodded. She smiled again and touched his left arm at the wrist. Then she pointed her wand at it and touched it briefly with the tip. He felt something soft wrapping around it and even though it didn’t stop hurting it felt better with the gauze around it, in a way.

Then she moved on to his ribs and they stopped screaming in pain as well, only leaving a dull ache behind. She went over his body, looking for injuries and healing them. Draco’s eyes never left her hands while she worked. When she was finished, she started speaking in a low tone again. “You’re free to go, but I wouldn’t advise you taking part in the fight.”, she paused for a moment and shrugged. “But if you decide to fight, I won’t be the one to stop you.”

With that she got up and moved on to the next person in need of medical attention. Draco was left there, staring at the ceiling of the Great Hall. He wondered why exactly Dobby had brought him here. He had never been particularly kind to the elf. He hadn’t hurt him like his father had done, but he had been a spoiled brat and he had acted accordingly. Especially towards creatures he was taught were beneath him. He sighed and sat up, taking a proper look around. 

There were a lot of injured wizards and witches, young and old.   
All the students he could see seemed to be from any house except Slytherin and for some reason he couldn’t quite grasp, that fact pained him. They had always been on the wrong side of the war, by default. But he felt like he could change that. A new sort of determination rose up inside him and he looked around, trying to find someone who could get him a spare wand from somewhere. He would need a wand if he wanted to fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings:  
> Draco is having some depressive thoughts again, there are some slightly graphic descriptions of injuries and implied torture (not described in any way)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update, I was kinda stuck with this chapter because I didn't just want to recount canon but at the same time I didn't want to make it awfully short. I hope I managed to find a middle way.
> 
> The chapter is from Harry's perspective again.

He ran down the flight of stairs that led down from the Headmasters office. His thoughts in disarray, all of them trying to get the upper hand. They had used him, all of them. Dumbledore always knew that he had to die in the end and he had never told him. He had to die so they could win.   
His thoughts came to an abrupt halt and continued to circle around that one thought.   
He was going to die. Tonight. 

He shuddered at the thought and he felt slightly nauseous, but he realised that there was no other choice to be made. He is one of the horcruxes, which means that he has to die so the others can win. He wouldn’t let anyone else die. But even though he had made his decision, he was trembling all over. 

His steps led him into the Great Hall, where witches and wizards of all ages where resting, tending to the wounded, crying over loved ones. His stomach dropped when he saw a group of red heads huddles together around a cot. The Weasleys were holding on to each other and all of them were crying. He saw Ron kneeling on the ground, draped over a still body. 

He moved as if he were on autopilot, stepping nearer to the mourning family. He didn’t want to intrude, but at the same time he just needed to know who was lying lifelessly on the ground. When he was only a few steps away from them, Mrs. Weasley looked up and stormed over to him, pulling him into a hug. He returned it hesitantly and as he looked over her shoulder, he could finally see which of the Weasley children hadn’t made it. It was one of the twins. Fred.

Tears startet stinging in his eyes and he let them fall, gripping Mrs. Weasley tighter.   
They didn’t deserve this, no one did. Involuntarily, his thought supplied him with a different picture. Malfoy. What happened after they had left? Dobby said that it was Malfoy who threw the dagger off its course. Did they find out it was him? And what did they do to him? A wave of guilt washed over him and Harry felt like he should have insisted on taking him with them. He had refused, yes. And they had been enemies once, always at each others throats during their school days. But now?  
Malfoy didn’t even seem like himself during sixth year, and he didn’t kill Dumbledore when he was supposed to. Surely that counted for something. 

And then, with his thoughts whirling and still wrapped up in a warm hug full of mourning, he came to a realisation. Malfoy and him had stopped being enemies a long time ago, he just didn’t realise it.   
What other reason would he have had to help Luna and the others by bringing them food? He didn’t have to do it, but he still did. Because he was actually on their side of the war. He just never had the chance to actually decide for himself.

Harry extracted himself from Mrs. Weasley’s hug and looked at her, trying to convey how truly sorry he was for all that had happened. “I’m sorry. I won’t let anyone else get hurt.”  
With that, he turned around, not waiting for an answer. 

As he walked through he castle, he saw more and more of his friends, all of them battered and bruised, skin covered in blood. 

His determination became even stronger and he knew, he had to end this before anyone else died, even if he died in the process. He left the castle and made his way to the Forbidden Forest. Halfway there, regret gripped him tight and he nearly turned around again. He hadn’t told Ron and Hermione what he was doing. Where he was going. But he didn’t stop, he didn’t turn around. Hermione would figure it out with Snape’s memory. They would know why he had to do it. They probably wouldn’t forgive him for not giving them the chance to say good-bye, but if he turned around now, he was sure that he couldn’t make himself go into the forest again. Not soon enough to stop anyone else from dying. 

He pressed on, keeping a steady pace on his way to the dark forest that was stretching out before him, getting bigger and darker with every step. He still had doubts, but every time when the thought to just turn around entered his head again, he thought back to the people in the big hall. The injured, the dead, the people who had lost someone. He couldn’t let this continue, he had to stop it.   
No one would die anymore, not because of him. Too many people had already lost their life for him. To protect him. He couldn’t bear that thought any longer and it was the only thing that kept him marching on without faltering in his sure and steady steps towards the wall of dark trees.

He entered the forest and followed the way that was just barely visible between the trees and plants all over the ground. He could hear Bellatrix’ cackling echoing between the tree trunks.

He stopped before they could see him and pulled the Snitch Dumbledore had left him out of his pocket. The sentence on it made sense now. I open at the end. He touched it to his lips and this time, it actually opened for him. Inside was a stone. Small and rectangular, no bigger than a coin. 

He let it fall into his hand and looked at it, thinking back to what Luna’s father had told them about the Deathly Hallows. He had no idea how Dumbledore could have gotten his hands on the stone of resurrection but it was undeniably lying in his palm. He turned the stone in his hand absentmindedly and looked up again, in the direction he heard the voices of the Deatheaters come from. 

Instead of trees, he looked at a familiar figure standing in front of him. Sirius. He looked to the side, just to see his mother and his father on his other side. He looked back to Sirius, his thoughts stuck somewhere between awe and shock.   
„What are you doing here?“, he whispered, not daring to raise his voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next update will (hopefully) be on sunday 07/02/21


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This feels very rushed, and I'm sorry about that. I kind of lost my interest and motivation for this story but I still wanted to bring it to an end. Hope you like it regardless, I still tried to end it in a good way.

He must have fallen asleep at some point, because when he became aware of his surroundings again, there were a lot more people in the Great Hall than before.   
He turned so he could see better and looked at the chaos in front of him. There were even more injured people as before and the Weasley’s were still huddled around one of the cots.   
Curious and tired of lying around, he stood up and tried to find a familiar face among the people that were huddled all around him. He couldn’t see anyone at first so he started taking a few steps in a random direction. 

A few people turned their heads and stared at him with disdain written clearly on their face, but most didn’t even give him a glance. As if he were invisible and in a sense, he was. He didn’t belong here. 

His gaze got caught on the Weasley’s again and this time he could see what they were doing. One of the twins was lying on the ground, he couldn’t tell which one. And he was dead. That explained all the tears that the Weasley’s were shedding. 

He turned away from them, this wasn’t his place. He didn’t get to apologise to them or to offer his condolences. It wasn’t his place to do that.  
But one thing didn’t sit right with him, because Granger was there with Weasley, but Harry was no where to be seen. With another accessing look around the Great Hall, Draco was sure that Harry wasn’t there. But where would he be?

Before he could think further about that, he heard someone call his name. He turned to the door and saw Blaise and Greg standing in the doorway. Both looked at him in disbelieve before they made their way over simultaneously.   
Blaise pulled him into a short hug as soon as he reached him and when he pulled back he looked at him with curiosity. “Where have you been?”

Draco swallowed. He wasn’t inclined to tell them what happened at the moment. He just shook his head. “I’ll tell you but not right now.”, he paused for a moment, but then another thought came to him. “Do you have any idea where I can get a spare wand?”

Blaise seemed taken aback by the question, but Greg was the one who actually voiced it. “Where is your wand?”

Draco shrugged. “Potter took it.”

In that moment shouting could be heard from outside, and everyone who wasn't occupied with tending to the wounded got up and began to move outside to see what was happening.   
Without really thinking about it, Draco began to move to the doors as well, dragging both Blaise and Greg with him. They both protested at first and asked what he was doing but in the end they came with him willingly. 

Once outside, they found a way through the crowd of students and wizards and witches that weren’t injured.   
He felt out of place again, even more so without his wand. The Deatheaters had positioned themselves opposite them, with the dark lord at the front, leading them on. If they attacked now, Draco would be dead for sure. 

Someone stepped up next to him and he was momentarily distracted from the picture in front of him. He looked to the side and saw Luna standing there, giving him a small smile. 

“Luna?”, he asked in disbelieve.  
Instead of answering, Lune pressed a wand into his hand and whispered: “You’re on the right side.”

He send a small and grateful smile her way and then, she was gone again, weaving through the crowd to get back to her friends. 

Draco looked down at the wand and realised in shock that it was Bellatrix’. He would have been delighted to just throw it away, but he needed something to fight with and his aunt’s wand was better than nothing. 

Suddenly everything fell silent again and Draco looked back to where the Deatheaters were standing. He noticed that Hagrid was with them, holding a body in his arms and with shock he realised that it was Harry.   
Everything came to a stop. He couldn’t really hear what He was saying, not that it mattered because they were all dead anyways. The dark lord had won. And that meant that Draco could just start to dig his own grave by now. There was no hope left. 

A hand touched his shoulder, grounding him. He looked over and it was Blaise. He motioned for him to look forwards and reluctantly, he did.   
Harry had fallen out of Hagrid’s arm and he was standing. He was alive. 

The next moment the fight broke out and everything around him descended into chaos.   
But he had chosen his side and he would fight with them. Because they had a chance again. A chance in the form of the boy he had inadvertently fallen in love with over two years ago. 

——————

After the fight, the first thing that Draco did was getting rid of the wand. Bellatrix had died during the fight and he didn’t want any reminder of her. His parents had fled when it became apparent that the dark lord would loose and he wasn’t inclined to look for them, not yet. Maybe he would, later on, but not right now. 

He stood on the top of one of Hogwarts’ towers, the last one that was still standing, and looked out over the scenery underneath him. He could see Harry and his friends on the bridge but he couldn’t tell what they were doing. 

He looked down at the wand in his hands and broke it in two. Then he threw both pieces over the edge and watched as they fell down towards the lake around Hogwarts. It felt like a weight was lifted from his shoulders as got rid of it. It felt like he could breathe again. 

Then it finally sunk in. They had won the war, the dark lord was gone. And he was still alive. And that may be the biggest surprise of all.   
Draco sat down and leaned his back on the wall. He looked down and watched as the sun went down, but he didn’t feel like moving, not yet. This was his opportunity to run away from reality for a moment longer. The opportunity to forget and not think about what could come next.

****

After getting rid of the elder wand, Harry stayed on the bridge even after Ron and Hermione had left. He looked back to Hogwarts, the place he had thought to be indestructible, ruined.   
He let his gaze wander over it and tried not to think about the future for a moment. He had no idea what he would do, now that everything was over. 

There were a lot of people he should talk to, people he should apologise to, but for now, he could stay here a while longer. When Harry looked up, he saw someone sitting on top of the one tower that had miraculously survived. He couldn’t possibly tell who it was, but he felt the urge to go up there. Not particularly because of the person but because he wanted to see how everything looked like from up there. Without further hesitation, he started to make his way back into the castle. 

****

Draco didn’t know how long he had been up in the tower when he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. He waited until they stopped, before he turned his head to look at them. It was Harry. 

Draco sighed and went to get up from his place. He wouldn’t want to have him here, he was sure of that. Why would Harry Potter want to spend any amount of time in the presence of the Deatheater that had only recently decided that he wanted to help his side?  
He couldn’t come up with one plausible reason, so he went to go, but before he could pass Harry at the top of the stairs, he grabbed his arm and Draco stopped in his steps. He turned back to Harry and looked at him questioningly. 

Harry sighed and something in his gaze changed when he looked at him. “I wanted to thank you.”

Draco raised his eyebrow. “Why would you want to thank me?”

Harry looked away and shook his head, his warm hand was still resting on Draco arm. “For helping us get out of the manor. And for fighting on our side.”, he paused for a moment, but before Draco could say something, Harry carried on. “Listen, we’ve always hated each other, I know, but maybe we got up on the wrong foot. We could start again, you know?”

Draco stayed silent and countless thoughts were racing through his head. This had to be a dream. Draco was sure it was a dream. Why would Harry Potter offer to forgive him, to start again? It didn’t make any sense. He blinked a few times and looked back to Harry. He seemed genuine and nervous. 

Draco didn’t know what the future would bring, but he knew that this could be the opportunity he needed. So he took it. He nodded. “Let’s start again, then.”

A smile crept onto Harry’s face and he still didn’t let go of Draco’s arm, instead, he let his hand wander downwards until he grasped Draco’s hand in his.   
Draco’s thoughts came to a sudden halt and he stared into Harry’s impossibly green eyes. Harry began to move forwards, as if he wanted to kiss him, but Draco stopped him, yanking his hand out of his grasp in the process.   
Harry blinked at him owlishly, uncomprehending about what just happened. 

Draco crossed his arms in front of his chest defensively. “What do you think you’re doing?”

A sheepish smile crept onto Harry’s face. “I’m sorry, okay. Maybe it was too much. It’s just...”, he trailed off but Draco had no inclination of saving him from that awkward moment. He had brought that upon himself. 

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, Harry seemed to find his voice again, but he didn’t look at him. “I, kind of, wanted to do that for some time. I didn’t realise, and when I did, I ignored it, because we were standing on opposite sides. And I never expected you to stand on our side, or that you would help us, so I just... but you did help us, in the end and you fought on our side. And when I found you up here, I just thought…”

Before he could continue and embarrass himself even further, Draco stepped forward and took Harry’s hand in his again. Their eyes met and Draco gave him a small but genuine smile. 

“Lets start over then.”, he whispered and Harry nodded. 

“Okay. Lets start over.”


End file.
